Polish historian enters presidential race with controversial past in museums
Polandʼs opposition party picks museum director for next years presidential race. His nomination comes after recent power shift in parliament and might affect countrys path towards EU reforms
In a move to keep political influence Karol Nawrocki was picked by Law and Justice party (PiS) as their next presidential hope just a few months after losing parliament control. The 41-year-old historian who runs the Institute of National Remembrance brings his own set of views on how polish history should be told
The nomination comes at a time when pro-EU Prime Minister Donald Tusk cant push forward his reform plans because of presidential blocks. The current president (who supports PiS) has power to stop new laws; this makes next years election super-important for both sides
Nawrockis past work shows clear signs of his approach to history — he changed WW2 Museum in Gdansk focusing more on polish suffering and good deeds. This led to some legal problems with museums first creators. “We must defend our values and not let anyone limit our power“ Nawrocki said on nov 24th when accepting his nomination
The election will put him against Rafal Trzaskowski‚ warsawʼs mayor who represents the pro-change side. Its worth noting that polish view on WW2 events is quite mixed:
- Many poles helped save jewish people
- Some took part in bad actions
- Research shows both sides of the story
- Not everyone agrees with these findings
The current political setup makes it hard for Tusks government to fix what EU sees as problems with courts and other rules that PiS made during its time in charge
